Helping cause Gulf disaster doesn’t slow down oil giant
Poor little rich oil giant Halliburton gets slammed by the Spill Commission for contributing to the Gulf disaster (see BP and Halliburton knew cement was unstable “” used it anyway to ‘seal’ Macondo well and here). But they still reported a record $5.3 billion revenues in the first quarter of 2011.
But, as ThinkProgress notes, “In a severe blow to the right-wing’s daily talking points, Halliburton attributes their robust earnings to increased domestic production under Obama”:
Halliburton’s consolidated revenue in the first quarter of 2011 was $5.3 billion, compared to $3.8 billion in the first quarter of 2010″¦These increases were attributable to increased activity in United States land”¦
“I am extremely pleased with our Q1 results, as overall revenue in the first quarter set a company record of $5.3 billion. North America delivered strong performance as margins progressed due to increased activity”¦” said Dave Lesar, chairman, president and chief executive officer.
TP points out:
Lesar is confident that, under Obama, domestic energy production opportunities will continue to grow: “We have been confident about the robust outlook in North America, and the prospect of higher activity in the coming quarters has made us more bullish in the strength of our business in 2011 and beyond.”
The right wing has consistently and falsely accused Obama of choking off domestic supply. American Solutions, an organization funded by the fossil fuel industry and controlled by Newt Gingrich, accuses Obama on a daily basis of blocking domestic oil production. In reality, under Obama, U.S. oil production has reached its highest levels in nearly a decade.
Despite record revenue and profits, Halliburton and the rest of the oil industry continue to receive billions in taxpayer subsidies.
See also “Drill, baby, drill fails: Oil prices soar in spite of sharp increase in U.S. production under Obama.”
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They’re all raking it in while they can.
Sorry to be so blunt.
Halliburton specified and delivered the faulty cement, and is probably more responsible for the Gulf Spill than BP or Transocean. Halliburton also electrocuted troops in faultily wired showers in Iraq. Consequences? Zero.
A side benefit of the switch to clean energy will be that the kind of people who run Halliburton will not have a market, and will no longer be able to get away with whatever they want, regardless of the party in power. Let’s hope we don’t have to wait too long.
“In a severe blow to the right-wing’s daily talking points, Halliburton attributes their robust earnings to increased domestic production under Obama”
Uh…I hate to say it but I think the right-wing’s daily talking points have won this round handily.
Obama has ramped up domestic production of fossil fuels while abandoning talk of climate threats. Fossil fuels still get huge tax breaks while clean energy is the pauper in the mix. A dead cap&trade bill, no climate discussions, no carbon pollution pricing, record fossil fuel profits all while extreme weather hammers the planet from one side to the next.
I’d say the GOP talking points have done just what they set out to do: Preserve Big Fossil record profits even at the expense of Americans and their paychecks.
Deborah (#1): “They’re all raking it in while they can.”
Yes, that is what corporations are designed to do. That isn’t surprising.
What is surprising to me is that our government is supposed to step in a protect Americans’ health and security but they have failed to do so when it comes to fossil fuelled threats. They are standing on the sidelines while our economy is held hostage to repeated oil price spikes and our weather is being cooked to extremes by unchecked fossil fuel pollution that uses our climate system as an open, free, sewer.
Re: Barry | Post #4
…..Yes, that is what corporations are designed to do. That isn’t surprising…..
Who said I was surprised? ;-)
What does surprise me after some 40 years of watching is that, in the face of directly observable evidence that we are going too far down the wrong path in the destruction-of-life-support-systems department, the relentlessly consolidating corporate monolith appears to be hell bent on sacrificing those very systems for (their) short-term gain.
The entities to which I refer know full well the potential ramifications of what they are doing.
They don’t care.
You are implying, I believe, that they are not going to change.
Very well. I do see that, finally.
So. We will have to go around them. This is not as crazy as it may sound at first.
Where is it written that we, the human community, must defer to those who, for whatever reason, think they are entitled to do with our life-support systems as they see fit?
There is no mandate to that effect.
Re: Mike Roddy | Post #2
…..A side benefit of the switch to clean energy will be that the kind of people who run Halliburton will not have a market, and will no longer be able to get away with whatever they want, regardless of the party in power…..
Exactly.
And we can all start now, on some level and as best we can, to stop providing a market to that kind of people.
>A side benefit of the switch to clean energy will be that the kind of people who run Halliburton will not have a market
Don’t count on it. When you make over 5 billion a quarter you can always buy your way into a new market, say green energy, when the “time is right”. But who cares, solutions are important not the people.
Joe,
I think it’s worthwhile to read a commentary I had in the Association for the Study of Peak Oil-USA (ASPO-USA) newsletter last week:
http://www.aspousa.org/index.php/2011/04/a-look-back-at-north-sea-oil-production-projections/
I think it’s particularly important in terms of what it says about oil forecasts and assessments by U.S. government agencies and the future of oil production from the deepwater Gulf of Mexico (GOM). Most of the U.S. oil production increase over the last few years has been due to developments in the deepwater GOM and Bakken Shale region of North Dakota. The Bakken Shale region oil production could peak as soon as 2015 by my modelling of production.
Roger Blanchard
Sault Ste. Marie, MI